Mini-Read Review is a feature created here on In Libris Veritas in order to showcase the reviews for short stories and novellas which so often get over looked. Today I have Limerick by Kimberly Spencer and Virginia Day Zero by Seab Cregan

Source: Purchased on Amazon
Publisher: Kimberly Spencer
Series: The Shimmer Trilogy #2
Edition: Ebook, 71 pages
Genre: Young Adult Fantasy
Purchase: Amazon*
*I receive a small monetary kickback from Amazon purchases
Rating: 3/5

Jensen hoped she’d never need Shimmerspell again, but now someone is stalking her, someone who claims to be the Lady of the Lake. To make matters worse, witches and dragons have come out to play. And Jensen must figure out how to harness her power and accept her destiny before she ends up losing everyone she loves.

Limerick is the second book in the Shimmer Trilogy, a novella book series that I find to be surprisingly addictive. Jensen  had a lot of info dropped on her in book one and she went straight into the deep end of the reality of her life, that she is half Fae and her family isn’t who they claim to be. Jensen retains that bravery she showed from the first book and puts it to use. Her voice is also really good and I enjoyed her personality for the most part, since she’s the narrator it makes the book really easy to read and get into. I really like the inclusion of the Lady of the Lake myth and it’s really interesting to see how that pans out. There is also a variety of fantasy creatures involved in this one, including Dragons though they do take a much more human appearance of course. I wish that some of the creatures had been explained a bit more, I think the book would have been better for it. There were also a few issues with the romance and the resulting quarrels that came with it, because it honestly just didn’t work for me. Of course there is also the matter of the cliffhanger…which drives me crazy! I love that they keep me interested but at the same time I hate that it cuts off with no answer, ugh. Overall I think it’s a promisingly series and while it has it’s issues I enjoyed it for what it is, though if more was added to the book I wouldn’t object because I think it would benefit from a tad more depth.

Virginia Day Zero

Source: Purchased on Amazon
Publisher: Sean Cregan
Series: Day Zero .5
Edition: Ebook, 23 pages
Genre: Science Fiction Horror
Purchase: Amazon*
*I receive a small monetary kickback from Amazon purchases
Rating: 3/5

Murph and Rory Caulfield are two regular kids in the small town of Coombs in rural Virginia. When their uncle goes to fetch the local sheriff after finding “something bad” on his farm, the boys go to check it out for themselves. What they find is more than just bad, though – it could kill them and everyone they know.

The race is on now. First to escape, then to find out what’s happened to their family and their town. If they can do that, they can think about finding a safe place to hole up away from the horrors that pursue them.

But day zero is here, and maybe there are no safe places. Not any more.

Virginia Day Zero is a sci-fi short story about the end of the world.

Virginia Day Zero was one of my sleep deprived induced picks where I end up downloading Kindle books like they are going out of style. So I had no idea that this a side story to the novel Day Zero, nevertheless the short story does pretty well as a stand alone read. The only downside to not reading the novel first is that you don’t get the depth or the information about the odd creatures that have shown up. It did piqued my curiosity quite a bit though and I might pick up Day Zero eventually. The horror aspect is no really scary so much as it’s an adrenaline fueled race to survive and get away from the monsters, and seeing as this only has about 20 pages the ride is over quickly. I liked the interesting and unique monsters and I think the writing was actually really nice, it’s detailed enough and flows quickly. This isn’t a short story where you can expect to have all or most of your questions answered, in fact it really doesn’t explain much of anything, but I enjoyed it and didn’t really want it to end where it did.